Grow Conversions and AOV With Product Recommendations

David Taitelbaum, Marketing Strategist

Author Bio

As the leader of West Coast strategy services for Oracle's Bronto Software, David Taitelbaum consults with brands on digital marketing strategy and customer engagement campaigns throughout North America and Asia. He has over 15 years of experience leading ecommerce organizations and developing successful marketing campaigns for companies of all sizes. Most recently, Taitelbaum oversaw global ecommerce operations for City of Sleep, including support, marketing and channel distribution. He is a regular contributor to Bronto’s Commerce Marketing blog. When he is not guiding Bronto’s clients to strategic marketing success, he is spending time at home with his lovely wife, raising their two children.

When you send a welcome series or browse recovery email, you’re taking the first step to engage with a contact you likely know very little about. The fact that the email is being triggered based on an action they took on your site is a great starting point, but why not leverage the power of your customer base to help them find just the right thing? Enter product recommendations.

Have you ever been among friends when one person mentions a recent book they loved and another enthusiastically agrees? Your ears immediately perk up, and you think to yourself, “I need to check it out!” Such recommendations are a powerful thing, and online shoppers are becoming increasingly reliant on this kind of information when making purchasing decisions. They tend to appreciate the heads up on what others are buying and what other products of yours they might like.

The great thing about product recommendations is they’re pretty easy to set up. All you need is a data feed. If your product feed updates at least once a day, your recommendations will remain evergreen, meaning you won’t need to worry about discontinued, out of stock or outdated product listings showing up in your recommendations.

Let’s look at a few different ways you can use product recommendations in your email messaging.

Best Sellers

Very similar to the book example I mentioned earlier, these are products that people love. This type of recommendation works best in your high conversion messages, such as cart recovery. The person who abandoned a cart might have had difficulty finding exactly what they were looking for and simply gave up. Sending them a reminder that they abandoned that unsatisfying shopping trip will miss the mark. But including your best sellers in a cart recovery message could very well help them find exactly what it was they were looking for.

The power of the popularity of a given product automatically makes it more valuable to your customers. It can also have a big impact on average order value (AOV) as the customer may decide to purchase one of your recommendations in addition to the item(s) they abandoned.

Here’s an example:

Best seller product recommendations can also work well in a welcome series when subscribers are just beginning to familiarize themselves with your company. They can help you put your best foot forward and increase the chance that they’ll love their first purchase with your company.

Highest Rated

Your regular customers obviously get your brand, and they tend to be the ones most likely to be swayed by what other customers absolutely love about your company. So I like these types of product recommendations in messages that go specifically to that group, such as a post-purchase message. If you offer your customers a bounce-back coupon as a thank you for their latest order, highlighting your most highly rated products can be a great way to get them to buy again right away.

Here’s an example:

New Arrivals

New arrival product recommendations work best for your power subscribers, the people with the astronomically high open and conversion rates. They probably follow and tag you on social media, and fancy themselves as a brand influencer in training. These customers are always on the prowl for the NEW NEW and want to be the first to know what’s good. In short, they’re perfect for a block of new arrival product recommendations.

Here’s an example:

Advanced Product Recommendations

If you have the ability to leverage a powerful recommendation engine, then you have even more options when it comes to providing high-converting recommendations to your customers. For browse recovery messages, many advanced engines can offer up recommendations based on the items each customer browsed and show them the items that other people who browsed the same item also browsed. This wisdom of the crowds can help you gain a conversion by showing similar items that have a better chance of fitting this individual customer’s need.

If you aren’t currently using product recommendations, what are you waiting for? You’re missing out on an easy tool that will help you grow your conversion rate and average order value – both of which directly affect your bottom line. Take every opportunity to show your customers you get them and that you offer just the products they need. Make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for, and they’ll be sure to come back to you time and time again.